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Terrified of gagging/choking ... both

I'm so scared of gagging + choking. I have 're-upped' myself on all of the procedures to follow in case of choking, etc.
... still, it scares me to death, which makes me hesitant to offer him anything.

How can I get over this?

I've read a lot about BLS, but again... offering him a larger piece (as opposed to mushed up stuff) seems like more of a choking hazard.

Can I just wait until I'm sure he'll be more able to swallow?
thanks.

... mama to alasdair jonas, fifteen days late and (finally) born all natural on june 24, 2007.

Re: Terrified of gagging/choking ... both

If your really terrified of choking I'd try the puree route, that way you can control the amount that goes in. Kids have pretty good gag relexes if needed. I know it can be scarey but if something goes down wrong they usually cough it up with little problem. The first time mine coughed on something my stomach droped but it only lasted a few seconds (seemed longer) and she was fine. I would suggest you try not to show your fears, maybe ask your hubby, or someone else to do the feedings first as you don't want to pass this fear on to your little one. My friends cousin was terrified her little one would gag on something that she passed it on to her daughter who is now 3 and still only eats purees and is completly nurotic about foods. (not to say that will happen with you) But kids pick up on things like that so if your going to feed, take a deep breath and smile and try not to worry or wait until he is older. Kids are pretty resliliant. I'd also talk to my Doc if you want to delay solids for a bit. I'm not sure if there is a certian age when you need to introduce it by before there is an issue, but for most i think BM is all that is needed for the fist year. So you could always wait until your more comfortable that way you and your baby will both enjoy the expierence more.

Re: Terrified of gagging/choking ... both

well you don't want to give him to big of a peice with baby led either...
cut things smaller then his small finger nail and they normal can eat that with out to much trouble. Does he had theeth to chew stuff?
If baby is over 9 months and still having all the gagging issuse you might want to talk to your doctor about it.

Re: Terrified of gagging/choking ... both

Originally Posted by andrea_ohio

well you don't want to give him to big of a peice with baby led either...
cut things smaller then his small finger nail and they normal can eat that with out to much trouble. Does he had theeth to chew stuff?

Wow. so, super super small.
He's only 6 months, 2 weeks--and he just broke both of his bottom two teeth.
thanks for your help.

... mama to alasdair jonas, fifteen days late and (finally) born all natural on june 24, 2007.

Re: Terrified of gagging/choking ... both

If he's gagging and puking then he may just not be quite ready for solids yet.

My understanding is that after 6 mo you can start OFFERING solids but in many cases LO just aren't quite ready yet.

The guidelines for baby led solids are cutting things in french fry shapes or larger than their fist so they can pick up the food easily. Or do foods that are naturally quite soft and the baby will basically squish and turn into "puree" - things like avocado, banana (we'd split in in thirds the long way - if you press your finger on the end it will split in thirds naturally), sweet potato, butternut squash.

We did baby led solids offered my DS solids for the first time soon after he turned 6 mo. He was very excited and got some food into his own mouth, but then promptly gagged and threw up the food plus all of his last breastfeeding session. I stayed very calm and just reassured DS that he was ok.

After that - we figured DS body was telling us he wasn't ready yet so we waited a week before trying to OFFER solids again.

We offered solids to DS on a regular basis. He was very interested in exploring the food and occasionally ate a little nibble, but he really didn't eat much until he was around 8.5 mo or so.

From what I've read from posts by other moms here - it's pretty common for LO to not really really be ready for solids until more like 8 or 9 mo or later.

As for the gagging thing - my understanding is that the theory behind baby led solids is that the LO ability to pick up food and self feed happens at about the same time as them losing their gag reflex.

Re: Terrified of gagging/choking ... both

My LO gags on things too. It makes me hold my breath, but he always spits it up and is fine. He is 7.5 months. I have been giving him pureed foods and most of the time he is fine. There are a few he just doesn't like and tends to gag on (avacado, beans, peas). Today his oatmeal was thicker than usual and he gagged on that. I also tried cutting things up really small and letting him self feed. He gagged on the little tiny peices, so I'm holding off on that for now. I believe what others have said, you just have to watch your child and progress based on their readiness.

Re: Terrified of gagging/choking ... both

I started offering solids to my son at about 6 months, but he was a big time choker, so we took it really slowly. I started with purees and always followed up with breastmilk because he seemed to need help getting food past the back of his throat. For a while I was concerned that he had a swallowing issue (he had pretty bad reflux, which has improved tremendously lately). Now I believe that his body was just not yet ready for solids. So we took it very slowly -- just offering purees once or twice a week until he was about 7.5 months.

He was really interested in food at an early age, so even though we didn't offer him solids to actually eat, after 6 months we started to offer him things like whole apples, pears, carrots, etc. to suck and gnaw on. They were too big for him to even get in his mouth completely, but he got the flavor and he seemed to appreciate having something to do with food while we ate. (We did have to watch him closely even with those, however, because as soon as his gums got really hard from incoming teeth, he was able to scrape and gum chunks off some of them.)

He is now 8.5 months and in the past week has really gotten the hang of swallowing. I still keep it all very soft, but he's doing great, and he really looks forward to eating now.